Hitman (franchise)

Hitman
File:HitmanLogo us.svg Hitman logo
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, stealth
Developer(s)	IO Interactive
Publisher(s)	Eidos Interactive (2000–2009) Square Enix (2009–present)
Composer(s)	Jesper Kyd
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube
First release	Hitman: Codename 47 November 19, 2000
Latest release	Hitman: Absolution November 20, 2012

Hitman is an action-adventure stealth video game series developed by the Danish company IO Interactive. The series is available on Microsoft Windows as well as several video game consoles, including the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, and Xbox 360. The game series has since expanded into a novel, Hitman: Enemy Within written by William C. Dietz, followed by Hitman: Damnation which is an official prequel to the upcoming installment, Absolution, and a Hitman film adaptation in 2007, which is loosely based on the storyline of the games. Though the film was negatively received, it became a financial success.

The series revolves around Agent 47 (usually simply referred to as "47" or "Mr. 47"), a cloned assassin-for-hire, whose flawless record places him in high demand among the wealthy and elite. The games feature a mix of orchestral and electronica musical scores, composed by Jesper Kyd (later noted for his work on the Assassin's Creed series). A fifth installment of the series, Hitman: Absolution, was released on November 20, 2012. Another Hitman game is to be the debut project at Square Enix's brand new Montreal studio. The new Hitman game is for next-gen platforms, IO Interactive will contribute to the project, with three developers moving to Montreal from Denmark.

Story Overview

The first game starts when 47 escapes from a sanitarium where he has seemingly been imprisoned, being guided by a mysterious overseer. After a year, he is shown to be working for the covert International Contract Agency, or ICA, under his handler Diana Burnwood. He is sent on a mission to eliminate four crime bosses across the world, before being hired to kill a fifth target, Professor Ort-Meyer, at the sanitarium where 47 was imprisoned. As events transpire, 47 finds out that all his targets were part of an advanced cloning experiment, with him as the result; the perfect, cold-blooded assassin. Ort-Meyer is revealed to be the client who ordered the hits and, to protect himself, sends a squad of docile, highly-trained '48' clones against 47. With help from a fellow agent, 47 defeats the clones and kills Ort-Meyer, who is shown to have ordered all the hits. In the aftermath of this revelation, 47 tries to leave his assassin past behind (in Hitman 2: Silent Assassin), seeking peace in a Sicilian monastery, but is forced to become an assassin once more when his mentor and friend, Father Vittorio, is kidnapped. Getting back in contact with the ICA, he arranges with Diana that he will work for them if they help trace Father Vittorio. Eventually, it is revealed that Father Vittorio's kidnapping was orchestrated by Sergei Zavorotko, the brother of one of men whose DNA helped create 47, to bring 47 out of retirement and kill everyone who was in on a deal by Zavorotko to purchase a nuclear warhead. 47 successfully infiltrates Father Vittorio's monastery, killing Zavorotko and all his men. Though Father Vittorio begs 47 to lead a good life, the assassin decides to return to the ICA full time.

A few years later, by the time of Hitman: Blood Money, 47's reputation has spread far and wide, with a large list of clients requesting his services. During the course of the game, it becomes clear that the ICA is under attack from a rival agency called the 'Franchise', who are also planting incriminating evidence against 47 through one of their agents, Alexander Leland Cayne. Eventually, the agency is depleted to the point that Diana and 47 are the only ones left. 47 himself is nearly killed in Paris, prompting flashbacks over previous missions. Eventually, 47 kills one of the two top 'Franchise' assassins and is given a final contract by Diana, who has dissolved the ICA, to take down the 'Franchise'. Soon, an old acquaintance of 47, former CIA agent 'Smith', reveals that the 'Franchise' is planning to assassinate the US president, and that the 'Franchise is merely a puppet organization for Alpha Xerox, a shadowy political organization who wish to monopolize the cloning techniques that gave birth to 47 and kill the President before he can put a halt to their plans. 47 prevents the assassination, but must go into hiding from the 'Franchise' and the police. At his hideout, he is seemingly betrayed and poisoned by Diana, with the 'Franchise' preparing to cremate the assassin so his DNA cannot be used for further cloning experiments. 47's 'death' is later revealed to be a tactic which would bring 47 within killing range of everyone at the funeral, including 'Franchise' agent Cayne. 47, his identity now a secret, then goes into hiding and Diana uses the remains of the 'Franchise' to revive the ICA.

Years later, in Hitman: Absolution, Diana seemingly betrays the ICA, now led by Benjamin Travis, exposing it to the public. The ICA locate 47 once again and contract him to kill Diana and bring a girl she has in her care, Victoria, to the agency. 47 infiltrates Diana's base and wounds her, but promises to keep Victoria safe from the ICA. It is revealed that Victoria is a clone, like 47, created in secret by Travis, whom the ICA would train to be an assassin. Diana did what she did to protect the girl from becoming like 47. The assassin soon comes into conflict with Blake Dexter, the head of Dexter Industries and a top figure in the criminal underworld, who wishes to sell Victoria to the highest bidder. 47 finds himself fighting to keep Victoria safe as she is hunted by Dexter's forces and the ICA. 47 eventually kills Dexter and his lietenants, together with Travis and his fellow conspirators, saving Victoria. At the end, it is revealed that 47 spared Diana and it implied that she and 47 are once more working for the ICA.

Games

Timeline of release years

2000 –		– Hitman: Codename 47
2001 –
2002 –		– Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
2003 –
2004 –		– Hitman: Contracts
2005 –
2006 –		– Hitman: Blood Money
2007 –
2008 –
2009 –
2010 –
2011 –
2012 –		– Hitman: Absolution

To date, five games have been released by IO Interactive for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows. The fifth title "Hitman: Absolution" was announced by Square Enix and released on November 20th, 2012 in the United States. All games are action-adventure stealth-based, although it is possible to switch between third-person and first-person perspective in all versions except in the first, which offers an optional camera angle comparable to one used in fixed-camera adventure games. The fifth installation in the series offers a few different angles from which to observe your surroundings.

Hitman Triple Pack

Hitman Triple Pack
File:Hitman-triple-pack-cover.jpg
Developer(s)	IO Interactive
Publisher(s)	Square Enix Europe
Engine	Glacier
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, stealth
Mode(s)	Single-player

A Hitman compilation was released for the PC and PlayStation 2 containing the last three games of the series; Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Hitman: Contracts, and Hitman: Blood Money. The compilation is called Hitman The Triple Hit Pack in Europe and Hitman Trilogy in North America. It was released in Europe on June 22, 2007. and in North America on June 30, 2007. Silent Assassin, Contracts and Blood Money will be released in HD remakes in the Hitman HD Collection, which will be released in January 2013.

The purpose for this new release of the three latest Hitman games is to introduce new players to the series as well as giving old players one Hitman package. The compilation also includes a Kane & Lynch: Dead Men bonus disc with some special features.

Included games are:

• Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
• Hitman: Contracts
• Hitman: Blood Money

Note that Hitman: Codename 47 is the first game of the series and follows a slightly different game mechanic from its sequels. It has been omitted most likely due to the fact that it was only released for PC, as the trilogy pack was released for the PlayStation 2 as well. Furthermore, Hitman: Contracts includes some levels remade from Hitman: Codename 47. Hitman: Ultimate Contract, a PC-only compilation of all four games, was released on 17 July 2009.

Games by year

Title	Release	Platform(s)
Hitman: Codename 47	2000	PC
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin	2002	PS2, Xbox, GC, OnLive, PC
Hitman: Contracts	2004	PS2, Xbox, PC
Hitman: Blood Money	2006	PS2, Xbox, X360, OnLive, PC
Hitman: Absolution	2012	PS3, X360, PC

Gameplay

The core objective in each level is to kill assigned targets (usually multiple and sometimes additional targets as an optional bonus). In most cases, Hitman allows the player different options to accomplish this task. Players can perform precise assassinations or slaughter indiscriminately in order to achieve the mission goals; however, the games reward a subtle approach by awarding special weapons or cash bonuses if players earn a favourable rank (usually achievable by eliminating only the assigned target, and without raising the alarm doing so). 47 can also wear a variety of disguises (such as repairmen, police officers and waiters) to fool enemies and gain access to restricted areas. The focus of Hitman is not hiding in the shadows from the enemy, but rather blending in amongst them. It is up to the player to initiate violence, since guards do not usually open fire unless provoked.

In every game, the player character, 'Agent 47', has limited maneuverability; he cannot jump, scale walls, or mantle up ledges (there are a few pre-scripted places where he can jump from one balcony to another, but these are very rare). This generally limits the player to a single plane of movement, although he is often presented the opportunity to move to higher or lower areas through the use of ladders, stairs, elevators, or hills.

47 is given the ability to hop over minor obstructions in Blood Money, and can also climb certain edifices (such as fencing, vines, loose bricks, crates etc.). There is also the option of climbing onto the top of elevators through the hatch, allowing the player to strangle a victim from above.

A major feature in the game is the 'tension' meter, detailing how much attention the player is receiving from the public or guards and is dependent on many things. For example, walking around in a guard's uniform with the correct corresponding gun won't gather much notice, whereas running around in a waiter's uniform in a restricted area while carrying a visible weapon instead of an appetizer tray will result in an unwanted confrontation with the guards.

In most cases, 47 is required to hide any dead bodies, to prevent alarms. As introduced in Hitman Blood Money, 47 can hide a body in a place such as a garbage dump/rubbish bin. Many targets can be assassinated without firing a single shot; this style of gameplay became more prevalent in Blood Money, where the focus was to make some of 47's hits look like accidents. Accidents can be caused remotely with RU-AP mines acting on some (usually heavy and suspended) object, directly by pushing someone over a railing, and by other, more elaborate methods such as:

• Replacing a World War I replica gun to be used in the opera 'Tosca' with a real World War I era pistol.
• Crushing a man's neck using weights during his morning workout.
• Rigging a grill to set a victim on fire.

The second game of the series, Silent Assassin, enforced the concept of kills without firing more than a single shot. As per the number of shots fired and stealth used, ratings were given after every mission. The best of these was Silent Assassin indicating no more than one shot per target (and a guard) with no alerts raised.

Methods of assassination

The Hitman series permits the player to kill targets (or non-targets) in a variety of ways, using firearms, melee weapons, or even conventional objects that 47 picks up (such as shovels, fireplace pokers, pool cues, etc.). In Hitman: 'Contracts', melee weapons such as knives can be used to kill in more than one method, including forward stabs, horizontal throat slitting, frontal slashes, repeated stabs under the ribcage, or thrusting the blade into the carotid artery.

47 also has a garrote, or 'fiber wire'. The fiber wire is specially made for strangulation, with reinforced handles. He carries it with him on every mission, even those in which he is stripped of all other weaponry. It is also one of the few weapons which can bypass metal detectors.

To achieve the ideal 'Silent Assassin' rank, it is required that 47 only kill his assigned targets, and no one else. The sedative syringes, or chloroform in 'Hitman 2: Silent Assassin' (which only has a temporary, dose-dependent effect, unlike syringes), exist for this purpose, so that 47 may incapacitate an innocent person to take items or clothing from their body without harming them, so it does not count against the player in the final ranking. In Blood Money, the ability to add sedatives to food and drink was added, to avoid direct confrontation. Blood Money also introduced the option to hold any NPC hostage using smaller arms and use them as a human shield, and allows the player to knock the hostage unconscious with the gun, saving the player sedatives for food items or any impeding characters that are seated in chairs. In some missions, if a murder can be made to look like accidental death (using the accident system introduced in Blood Money), some kills will not be counted as hits, but as accidents. Any civilians or armed personnel who witness a kill will count as witnesses, and will harm the player's rank if they remain alive or alert nearby guards. If however, someone (target or civilian) dies because of an accident, it will not matter if there are witnesses. 47 has the option of killing witnesses before they reach a guard, but the unnecessary murder will still count against his rank, unless he kills them with an accident. Witnesses also include anybody who sees 47 changing disguises or holding a weapon. In the games prior to Blood Money, the only consequence of having witnesses to a crime is that they will seek out police/guards and trigger an alert.

There are mission-specific options for killing a target in certain levels. Notable examples include locking a target in a sauna to stimulate a heart condition and cause cardiac arrest, poisoning a target's meal (this becomes more widespread in Blood Money), disguising 47 as a doctor and sabotaging a surgical operation, replacing a prop Mauser C96 handgun with a real one at an opera rehearsal, causing an actor to unwittingly kill the target, and causing stage pyrotechnics to explode and set the target on fire.

In most cases, it is required that 47 also hide the body of killed or unconscious victims, in order to avoid any unwanted alarm or if this is the desired effect 47 can leave the victims body in a wide open space for all to see.

Hitman insignia

File:Hit Logo bloodmoney.png

The logo for Hitman and 47's insignia

The Hitman insignia appears in Hitman: Codename 47 on the gates of Prof. Dr. Otto Wolfgang Ort-Meyer's asylum, throughout his laboratory and is formed by Prof. Dr. Otto Wolfgang Ort-Meyer's pool of blood when 47 kills him at the end of the game. It also appears in 'Hitman: Contracts' on the floor of the cloning lab, this time as though it is the actual floor design, as well as on Ort-Meyer's belt buckle. In Blood Money, it appears on books throughout the levels as an easter egg.

The symbol is engraved on the handles of his custom AMT Hardballer (called 'Silverballer' in Hitman: Contracts and Hitman: Blood Money), pistols. After Hitman: Contracts, the symbol is on the slides as well. It is also found on 47's equipment such as his laptop, briefcase and cell phone. In the film, 47 wears a pair of silver cufflinks with his insignia enameled in red.

International Contract Agency

File:Merces letifer.jpg

The logo of the Agency, bearing a close resemblance to the former logo of MI5

The International Contract Agency (ICA), also known simply as "The Agency", is Agent 47's employer. It is a worldwide, well-funded clandestine operation organization, with underlying connections to the foreign legion, providing assassination and mercenary services; Credited assassinations have taken place in the Americas, the Pacific Rim, and Eurasia. The Agency enjoys the cooperation of affiliates such as the FBI, CIA, MI6, NSA and even elements within the U.N. Although politically neutral and ethically amoral, the Agency avoids accepting hits ordered by enemies of its allies in government bureaus. In addition, most of 47's assigned assassination targets are criminals.

The Agency's motto, the Latin, "Merces Letifer" means literally, "lethal trade." It is also interesting to note that the Agency's logo itself is based on the original MI5 emblem replacing, along with the images themselves, the characters in the three corners, originally M, I, and 5, from left to right with IOI, for IO Interactive.

The Agency uses "controllers" like Diana Burnwood as go-betweens with its agents. They provide freelance operatives like 47 with electronic correspondence and mission briefings. Contractors also sell intelligence briefings on the subjects of missions to their agents for the fee of USD 1,500 per file. In Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, 47's registration number in the Agency is BRO3886. To date, the Agency encountered and overcame a similar organization, known as The Franchise. The Agency managed to survive, though only 47 and Diana were left.

In the Hitman film, which is set in another "universe", the Agency is replaced by the Organization. Like the Agency, the Organization benefits from ties to various government agencies, is neutral in global affairs and morality, and performs missions all over the world. Unlike the game wherein the hitmen are contracted from a range of backgrounds, the Organization instead recruits orphans and trains them from an early age. However, when 47 ties FSB agent Yuri Marklov to a bathtub, and a clock ticks in a laptop, the name of ICA is clearly visible in the laptop, instead of Organization.

Major or recurring characters

• Agent 47: A genetically-engineered assassin created from the recombinant DNA of five of the world's most dangerous criminals. The fact that the DNA came from multiple ethnicities allows 47 to blend in to a certain degree in most places in the world, or at least not look immediately suspicious and out-of-place. His name comes from the last two digits of a bar code on the back of his head – 640509-040147. He is a tall, bald, blue-eyed, no-nonsense individual and usually wears a suit with black leather gloves and a red tie and is known to disguise himself. Engineered from conception to be the perfect killer, 47's strength, speed, and intellect are above the human norm. According to Jacob Andersen, lead designer of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Agent 47 went from being "a mean old hairy guy" to having "hi-tech glasses" before getting to his current design. More inspiration came from "comic books, Hong Kong movies," and other similar media. According to Game Director Rasmus Højengaard (Hoejengaard), the idea of a clone whose future is decided by the people that created him, intrigued the Hitman team. Hojengaard felt the idea of creating the "ultimate assassin" by cloning "evolved with the character before the first Hitman game was done". 47 is modeled after David Bateson, the veteran actor who has voiced 47 in every Hitman game to date.

• Diana Burnwood: 47's handler at the Agency. Diana briefs 47 on his assignments, oversees his progress, and serves as his guide over the radio. For the vast majority of the series, 47 never sees Diana, recognizing her only by voice, however, they do come face-to-face at the conclusion of Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Contracts. Diana has an upper-class English accent and a business-like demeanor. Although Diana usually handles 47's affairs from afar, she turns out to be a major character in Hitman: Blood Money; serving as a double agent, faking 47's death, saving the Agency from liquidation, and dodging death herself a few times. In the end, her efforts pay off when the Agency is brought back online, although it is left unmentioned if Diana has been promoted to a higher position. Diana is voiced by Vivienne McKee. In Hitman: Absolution she is shot by 47 in her home after betraying the agency. Although she was presumed dead, it is later revealed that she survived her injury, and was able to fake her own death. Her current activities are unknown, but post-game events suggest that she is once again working as 47's handler. She also presumably continues to care for Victoria, a young girl that she and 47 rescued both from the ICA and other captors. In the Hitman film, Diana's only form of contact with 47 is through a synthesized voice via laptop. However, she does directly call 47 by phone in order to warn him that the Organization has targeted him.

• Agent Smith: A fairly inept American CIA agent with ties to the Agency. He has a tendency to be captured and tortured by the people he has been assigned to spy on. As a result, the Agency has sent 47 to rescue him on a number of occasions. His torture experiences have caused him to take up drinking on the job, making him even more ineffective. Like 47, Agent Smith dons a variety of disguises, but most often he's seen beaten and stripped down to his American Flag boxer shorts. He seems to regard 47 as a friend, no doubt because 47 has rescued him so many times. The feeling is not mutual. 47 initially treats his relationship with Agent Smith as detached and professional, but as he is forced to rescue Smith again and again he increasingly sees Smith as a hindrance. In Hitman Blood Money after the mission 'dance with the devil', 47 puts a gun to Smith's head and threatens to kill him but in the end didn't as Smith provides him a job which will then lead to the white house assassination. Smith's appearance changes somewhat in Hitman: Blood Money, having lost most of his hair through long term alcoholism and depression. In the Hitman film, Smith is instead portrayed as a very competent and dutiful CIA agent. In return for assassinating a high priority CIA target (Udre Belicoff, the brother of 47's original target), Smith helps 47 elude arrest by Interpol.

• Mei-Ling: A young woman from the Chinese mainland, abducted and recruited into the brothel of Hong Kong crime lord Lee Hong. 47 rescues her in exchange for information about her employer in preparation for assassinating him. After escaping from Lee Hong, Mei-Ling is later revealed to be prostituting herself to Hayamoto, another Asian crime lord. 47 ends up rescuing her again (much to his consternation). Mei-Ling is apparently the first woman who has ever kissed 47; his reaction is different in the original game from the remake. In the original Hitman: Codename 47, 47 reacts with significant revulsion. In the remake Hitman: Contracts, his reaction is one of detached bemusement. She was known as Lei Ling in the original game.

• Dr. Otto Wolfgang Ort-Meyer: 47's creator and the ultimate villain of Hitman: Codename 47. A brilliant but dangerous individual. Ostracized by the scientific community for his radical theories on genetic manipulation, Ort-Meyer ran a sophisticated lab hidden beneath a Romanian asylum. There he labored on DNA splicing in an effort to create a flawless human being. He took a great part in raising and indoctrinating 47 at the asylum, where 47 was kept a prisoner until he matured. Ort-Meyer eventually engineered 47's "escape" from the asylum in order to test his performance in the real world. The consummate megalomaniac, Ort-Meyer contracted with the Agency to have 47 kill the other 4 men behind the Hitman Project (47's "fathers"), so that Ort-Meyer could enjoy the fruits of his labor by himself. Ort-Meyer then attempted to lure 47 to his death, having perfected "Mr. 48", an improved, mindlessly loyal series of clones. Ort-Meyer underestimated how far 47 had advanced, and in the final showdown, 47 slaughtered the 48s and then killed Ort-Meyer himself by snapping his neck.

Reception

Aggregate review scores
As of August 29, 2011.

Game	GameRankings	Metacritic
Hitman: Codename 47	(PC) 73.65%	(PC) 73
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin	(PS2) 85.02% (PC) 84.88% (Xbox) 84.63% (GC) 83.47%	(PC) 87 (PS2) 85 (Xbox) 84 (GC) 83
Hitman: Contracts	(PS2) 79.92% (Xbox) 77.57% (PC) 75.14%	(PS2) 80 (Xbox) 78 (PC) 74
Hitman: Blood Money	(X360) 83.03% (PS2) 82.51% (PC) 82.38% (Xbox) 81.76%	(PS2) 83 (X360) 82 (PC) 82 (Xbox) 81
Hitman: Absolution	(PS3) 85.61% (X360) 79.05% (PC) 74.78%	(PS3) 84 (X360) 80 (PC) 79

The Hitman series has received overall positive reviews, with most titles after the original receiving high review scores of over 80 on average review sites such as Metacritic and GameRankings. As of March 2011, the games have sold a combined 8 million units.